Score one for democracy and transparency in government, thanks to freshman SJ council member Raul Peralez. The City Council voted unanimously on April 14 to adopt recommendations in his memo asking that City staff be required to show all the money available for the City’s General Fund when Council and community are reviewing the proposed budget. The memo also calls for the Council to include in its June vote a contingency budget, planning in advance for how it will spend excess funds that typically become available in fall.
Working Partnerships USA and the Community Budget Working Group have worked for years to expand public engagement and include community priorities in the San Jose budget. We’ve brought together dozens of community and neighborhood leaders to find common ground in budget savings and solutions, trained hundreds of stakeholders on how to read budgets and navigate the process, and mobilized thousands of residents to have their voices heard. Even with this level of involvement, the budget process has not given the community a rightful place at the table. We haven’t had access to the most accurate data at the critical points when decisions are being made…until now.
Community and even elected officials can’t truly weigh tough tradeoffs or propose creative solutions unless they have all the information about where our public money is now, where it’s going, and where else it could possibly go instead as our priorities and realities shift year to year. Under the current process, that information has been buried in a sea of complex and sometimes inscrutable numbers. Now, City staff will provide
- A statement to the public and Councilmember of all the money that it is legal to use for General Fund purposes like streets, libraries, senior services, or public safety and
- A statement of funds that it is practical to move from another expense into the General Fund so that all the available money is in plain view and everyone is working from the same set of information about how much can be spent.
The Council voted to take up a third important budget reform on May 5: consolidating major budget decisions into one vote. Most of the public assumes that all of our money is appropriate during the June budget vote. In fact, a separate vote takes place in fall on how to spend the extra money that the City has saved over and above its savings goals, known as the excess fund balance. This excess isn’t pocket change. Last year, it was $17 million. But Council spends that money at a time when few in the public know it’s happening and get involved.
The City’s many spring hearings, meetings and study sessions bring the community is at the table and equip the Council with the public input and fiscal analysis. This is the time for Council to approach the budget holistically, not piecemeal, and plan ahead for how the excess funds will be invested in our city.
Budget reform has come a long way in San Jose and there is still more to be done. Working Partnerships USA remains committed to the fight to be a part of the solution for our city’s future.
Derecka Mehrens is Executive Director of Working Partnerships USA
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